As far as I remember, the first novel I read was 'King Solomon's Mines' by Henry Rider Haggard, quite adventurous and enthralling, set in a Zulu village somewhere in southern Africa. I read it in fifth or sixth grade. My favourite writer, however has been Jules Vern, writer of a number famous science fictions, 'Around the World in 80 Days', '20,000 leagues under the Sea', 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth', 'Five Days in a Balloon', ' Around the Moon', etc.